Tip-Top Tables Contest: We Have a Winner!

Well, the votes are in and this was a tight race indeed! Over 150 craftsman and women entered our Tip-Tip Tables contest, with 12 pieces vying for the top spot, but ultimately, only one could be selected to bring home the bacon . . . errr sprayer.

Chad Hill’s Baptismal Table narrowly defeated Dennis Zongker’s “Griffin Table.” For his efforts, Hill will be taking home an Apollo Power Series Model 835 Turbine system with Model 7500 AtomiZer gun.

Two words immediately sprung to mind when it came time to describe this piece: “graceful” and “elegant.” A delicate set of reverse-tapered legs rise up from a beautifully executed, arched stringer system to hold a floating cross. The cross itself is adorned with four inlaid diamonds and the center sports an inlaid ring to accommodate the baptismal bowl.Chad’s piece may have garnered the top spot but there were plenty of other notable works that placed high in voter ranking.

Honorable Mention

Chad’s piece may have garnered the top spot but there were plenty of other notable works that placed high in voter ranking. Have a look for yourselves.

As mentioned above, Dennis Zongker’s Griffin Table took upwards of 1,100 hours to produce and incorporated not one, but two of the toughest techniques to master in woodworking; carving and marquetry.

Built by one of our most prolific site users, In Neidermeier of Repair combines a bit of humor with one very complex piece of marquetry. Gregg Novosad’s table combines six different species and over 400 pieces of marquetry!

At 17, Denis Rezendes is among our youngest readers. That said, he’s also among our most talented. His sapele desk incorporates mortise-and-tenon joinery, dovetailed drawers, and a bent lamination that follows the top’s profile. What were you doing at 17?

To our winner, as well as all who entered: congratulations! And like I always say, don’t fret if you didn’t place this time. There’s a brand-new gallery contest right around the corner. In fact, I’m working on assembling it as I type this. So sharpen your saw teeth and hone up your chisels. There’s work to be done!

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Congradulations to Chad. Your table is stunning and it looks great in the church. I especially like the twist of using eight legs. The matching arches on the stretchers and the aprons is a nice touch. The thematic way you wove in the cruxifiction is well done.

The poll was originally located in the area where it now reads "Voting is now closed." Once voting ends, the poll disappears.

"Thumbs-ups" have nothing to do with voting, rather, they're simply an internet widget used on most sites these days to indicate popular content.

The voting poll was prominently placed on our homepage for a rotator (the large images you see at the top of the homepage when you go to finewoodworking.com) and was heavily promoted via the FW eLetter which goes to 300K subscribers, facebook, twitter, and the blog rollup.

As I said earlier - voting is done by the community, not Fine Woodworking, not Taunton. The numbers are gathered and tallied by a third party in the interest of fairness.

Hope this answers your questions. If you have any more - don't be shy! I'm usually lurking around here somewhere.

I am curious how the baptismal table won with 72 votes when the Zen Breakfast table had 98. I read the rules and it seems that the Zen table had the most votes and should have won. Could you please explain. This doesn't seem right.

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